FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES

Louay Safi (PhD)Professor

Public Policy in Islam College of Islamic Studies

Biography

Louay M. Safi is professor of political science at Hamad Bin Khalifa University and senior fellow with the Center for Muslim Christian Understanding, Georgetown University. Dr. Safi has taught at several universities, including Wayne State University (WSU), Michigan, (1988-92), the International Islamic University of Malaysia (1994-99), George Washington University (2001-2002), Indiana University and Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) (2009-2010), and Georgetown University (2010-2011).

Dr. Safi has been active in defending human rights and promoting democracy for over two decades. He is a founding member of the Syrian National Council (SNC) and the Syrian National Coalition (2011-14). He is also co-founder and first chair of the Syrian American Council (2005-2011), and co-founder and former board member of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (1999-2007).

He is a prolific author and frequent speaker on issues of human rights, the Middle East, peace, leadership, and Islam and the West, and an advocate of human rights and civil liberties. He is the author of fifteen books, including The Qur’anic Narrative (Praeger 2008), Tensions and Transitions in the Muslim World, (University Press of America, 2003), Peace and the Limits of War (IIIT 2001), and The Challenge of Modernity (University Press of America, 1994).

He has served as Dean of Research and member of the University Senate at the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) (1997-99), Executive Director (1995-97) and Director of Research (1999-2003) of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), Editor of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (1999-2003), and President of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (1999-2003).

He has a long experience in developing communication strategy as the communication director of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and the official spokesperson of the main Syrian Opposition (2012-14)